AFRICAN STATES AND THE PROBLEM

Boniface I . Obichere

The prob 1em of in South Africa is an African lem. It fs a problem that is basic to the existence of many independent states of contemporary Africa. Africans find themselves in positions of political, religious, omic, social, cultural and military leadership owe it to er Africa and humanity to face the problem of Apartheid in h Africa as a most urgent problem ca 11 ing for immediate tion from within. The co-operation and collaboration of nations and peoples of Europe, Asia, the Americas and ra 1asia can be sought and shou 1d be engendered in the ecution of military and diplomatic tactics and strategies the elimination of aPartheid in South Africa. Recently, positive action was taken by the African states are members of the British Commonwealth of Nations by r effective boycott of the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh 11 as the associated Commonwealth Art Festival which d in Edinburgh on July 17, 1986. The remorseless and 1 massacre of unanned Africans in South Africa, the ditated invasions of Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Lesotho other independent African states by South African forces impunity, the obdurate relentlessness of the and their many other international and domestic crimes more than enough justification for concerted Africa iation •by any means necessary," according to . castigation of the white minority rulers of South Africa r. Kwame Nkrumah on April 7, 1960 during the Positive t n Conference For Peace and Security in Africa held in c still holds true. He stated: •tt is ironical to think the rulers of South Africa call themselves Christians. hri s t were to appear in South Africa today he wou 1d be fied by them ff he dared to oppose (as he would) the 1 laws of racial segregation. Apartheid and nuclear ns must shake the conscience of the Christian world. But are the churches of the world doing about these very n adictions of Christianity?" (Samuel Obeng, The Selected hes of Or . Kwame Nkrumah . Accra, w.d., Vol. I,.p. 52.) In an essay published on July 21, 1986, Vishwas R. nde in West Africa, {No. 3594, pp. 1511-1512), Or . I h's views were expatiated uoon and the statement was that "one of the startling incongruities in South ri a--heaven knows, there are enough incongruities there--is I the country regards itself as Christian." He went on to f out that the believe that their rule in South r a 1s divinely ordained and they do find biblical

84 rationale according to the warped tenets of their Dutch Reformed Church.

Even though we have asserted that the prob 1em in South Africa is an intrinsically African problem, it goes without saying that African leaders and African states welcome the cooperation and support of other nations in the search for a resolution of the unnatural and repugnant apartheid system as practised by the white minority regime in contemporary South Africa. This is where the question of economic sanctions and other related sanctions come into focus. These will be more effective if African, European, Asian and American states impose them as members of the international comity of nations. In recent months we have heard a lot of political rhetoric and propaganda against sanctions as tools for dealing with the South African prob 1em. Even from Washington. 0. C.. we have heard the ruling class decry the clamour for •pun i tive sanctions." By definition, all sanctions are punitive in the modern politics of nations. "Sanctions are coercive measures, usua l ly taken by several nations together, for forcing a nation considered to have violated international law to stop the violation." Sanctions may consist in withholding loans. limiting relations, imposing a blockade, curtailing trade. divestment of capital, ban on new investments, travel restrictions. etc.. Therefore, it does not make sense to argue as Washington and London have done recently that •punitive sanctions11 were not to be considered against South Africa. The most ridiculous aspect of the Anglo-Saxon argu­ ment against sanctions is that black Africans would suffer more than white South Africans if sanctions are imposed on the white minority and illegal regime in Pretoria. The best answer to this lame argument was given by none other than Winnie Mandela who stated that Mrs. Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan has no right to prescribe to black Africans how they should suffer. Winnie Mandela speaks, in this resPect, for millions of Africans and non-Afri cans who are of the persuasion that both Ronald Reagan of the U.S.A. and Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom are woefully and shamefully out of touch with international reality as far as South Africa is concerned. Blacks in South Africa have suffered in varying degrees since before the battle of Isandhlwana when Sir Garnet Wolseley conquered the Zul u ki ngdom under Cetswayo in 1879.• Blacks in South Africa have suffered in varying degrees since the inequitable and unholy unification of South Africa under British initiative in 1910 . Indeed, Margaret Thatcher should not arrogate to herself the job of prescribing the dosage of suffering Africans should

*See "Resistance Against Intrusion: A Case Study of Isandhlwana.• M.A. Thesis by Seshi V. Chonco . 1985, U.C.L.A. 85 efve at any point in historical time. It is a manifesta­ n of her racism, her callousness and what the Editor of t Africa (No. 3594, July 21, 1986, p.1507), aptly described a pos tion of obdurate ignorance, ~ on the part of this tish Prime Minister with respect to the feelings of the ders of the Conmonwea 1 th. Seventy percent of blacks in th Africa support sanctions against the white regime ording to recent polls quoted by Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu . Sanctions, as most people know, are a means to an end and an end in themselves. In this case as in the case of al l sanctions that have been used in modern history, the ective is to impress it upon the murderous regime of Botha his henchmen that they have transgressed against inter­ fonal conventions on the Rights of Man, on Human Rights, on ency and civilized political behaviour and that apartheid t be destroyed. South Africa is a multi-racial state and •a nation of minorities,~ as the Afrikaners would want the ld to believe. Just as the Fascist designs upon Ethiopia the league of Nations powers to their crucial test, in the s of Frederick L. Schuman (1941, pp.235-239), the demand derick l. Schuman International Politics. 3rd Edition, 1) for sanctions against South Afnca has put the Conmon­ lth to the test and cornered Margaret Thatcher. In July 1986, the highly respected Lagos Guardian (Nigeria) ared: ~If Mrs. Thatcher and her cohorts are bent on break­ up the C0111nonwealth, we should give them every assis­ e.• The half-hearted debates about the Ethiopian question 1935 are being reenacted over the question of sanctions nst South Africa. The times are different, the political rs are different but the issues at stake--African inde­ ence and black political self-determination are, the same . n, it appears that the champions of whHe supremacy have fed to concoct and conjure many reasons why sanctions nst South Africa will not work. We are not saying that we sanctions imposed on South Africa in perpetuity. We want e sanctions imposed as a strong demonstration of inter­ anal condemnation of an immoral and unjust system of the ration of races and "the division of populations not ly by colour but also along tribal lines.u The problem of apartheid fn South Africa fs now also to seen in the context of militant liberationist Africanism. The recent visit of the indefatigable rend Jessie Jackson to lusaka, Harare , Gaborone, etc. rscores this fact. So does the visit of Mrs . Coretta t King to Cape Town, Johannesburg, and her meetings witli ie Mandela and the Rev. , president of the d Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the cancellation of cheduled meeting ~ith Botha.The variety of diplomatic and i ca 1 actions taken by the 1eaders of the independent

86 II states of the Caribbean testify to the Pan-African devotion to the destruction of apartheid. The concerted and consistent action of students in American universities, demanding the re­ orientation of U.S. business investments in South Africa and the successful movement on several campuses and municipalities in America for divestment of public funds from South Africa are testimonies to the non-racial and humanitarian nature of the attack mounted everywhere against apartheid. Of course, one must not forget the violent and vociferous anti-apartheid activities that have taken place all over Africa and Europe, and in some parts of Asia. In June 1986, the Editor of West Africa (London) pointed out that it appeared that RrS: Margaret Thatcher was out of touch with reality in her approach to the general and overwhelming demand for sanctions against South Africa. "Her verbal condemnations of apartheid are meaningless, because her other actions seem to suggest one who really wants to give comfort to the Botha regime," the editorial stated. Mrs. Thatcher and Mr. Ronald Reagan should be advised to take seriously the poignant declarations of Mr. , President of the African National Congress (ANC), during his mid-year broadcast this year. He broadcasted on and distilled the present pol icy and objective of the ANC in these words: " ••• The way forward is not a Botha government, or a President's Council, not a , none of these things. It is a people's government the people of South Africa, united as common citizens of a unitary state on the principle of one-person-one-vote.• Ironically, Oliver Tambo is stating more clearly some ideas that occurred earlier to Jan Christian Smuts who stated in 1930 that "if black and white in Africa, while faithful to themselves, can manage to evolve a plan according to which they can jointly develop the resources of this continent, a great service will be rendered for the future of the human race .... " In Smuts's vision of the 1930s and in Tambo's policy and program for the present, we can create a unitary, just and multi-racial modern nation in South Africa . In thinking of Oliver Tambo' s expression of the popular clamour for a unitary state in South Africa wherein every person will be enfranchised, I cannot help but be saddened by the present "divide et impera• expediency of the Botha regime with its multi-level system of states of emergencies. Africa is not blood-sickened. According to Igbo philosophy, "Oso ndu anagh agwu He." This means that when one is running for survival, one never gets tired. Transposed into the Southern African situation, this dictum affinns that the struggle for freedom is a perpetua 1 struggle and freedom fighters do not have the word fatigue in their dictionary. As the nationalists in West Africa said in the 1950s, freedom fighters are not afraid to fill the prisons of the oppressor.

87 are they deterred by abject brutality and ungodly torture. lings, by soldiers and ool iGe of the regime, poHtical sinations and states of emergency will not deter the om fighters of South Africa. In fact, i f the Botha ime reviews what happened in colonial Kenya during the Mau , they will learn the hard and painful lesson that the mass tion of Africans by the colonial oppressors only served trengthen the resolve of the people to be free. Botha and henchmen have now made avid freedom fighters of hitherto itted and moderated labour leaders, such as Elijah i, president of COSATU, Piroshaw Camay, Head of the il of Unions of South Africa, HUM, trade unionists, and ig iou s leaders by rounding them up and imprisoning them. African nationalist leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Kojo io, Michael 1moudu, Jomo Kenyatta, Obafemi Awolowo, etc. looked at this type of imprisonment as a necessary ation into the comaradeship of the fighters for freedom tea. Winnie Mandela has given testimony that her in­ ration and solitary confinement was the turning point in own involvement in the higher stages of the militant tion movement in South Africa. The divide and rule policy of the Botha regime has rated the personality and political differences as well ideological cleavages between the African parties, i za t ions and 1eaders. The AHC, the UOF, the SACP, and PAC are all known to have laid emphasis on unity. But the ral structure, the President's Council and the Bantu­ are d1v1s1ve forces for the Botha reg ime and those of Verwoerd and B.J. Vorster before him. In 1956 when Or. Verwoerd was minister of Native Affa irs, he stated cally that the central government of South Africa te) laid down policy and the local authorities were ing but agents of the state as far as the execution of policy was concerned. As far as Verwoerd was concerned, expansion of the control and power exercised by the State tters affecting race was a major element of policy and it not matter to him that this central control diminished the of the local authorities (A .N. Pelzer (ed.} Verwoerd ·(1966) P.l27}. Therefore, the divide and rule elements of apartheid are now manifest have always been an integra 1 part of stem since it was first introduced in the South African ~'~';"•' Q''""'''" in January 1944, by O.F. Malan. According to Malan s credited with the coinage of the term apartheid, its ive is "to ensure the safety of the white race and of an civilization by the honest maintenance of the oles of apartheid and guardianship" (C.A. Woodward, lution in Af . (1983). No wonder frikaners and their

88 I! hypocrisy as Christians. In addition, Vishwas R. Gaitonde has shown recently how the Afrikaners perverted' sixteenth century Ca lvinism to create their Dutch Reformed Church and how they have merged church and state in their desperate effort to sustain the incongruities that abound in their unchristian system of the separation of the races (West Africa (July 21, l986,"The Afrikaner Gospel"). Getti ng back to the business of the Afrikaner plot to drive wedges between their many opponents in South Africa, one must question the role of Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, the chief Minister of Kwazulu (a ). He has declared himself opposed to apartheid. Buthelezi i s a bundle of contradictions. He is prepared to discuss with Botha and the Afrikaners the notion of •power sharing. • He is scared 11nd morb idly afraid of the demand by other Black African leaders for "one-person-one-vote• which means universal adult sufferage and enfranchisement for all Blacks and non-whites in South Africa. Buthelezi's lukewarm attitude to enfranchise­ ment as demanded by Oliver Tambo and others is the result of his view that the whites (Afrikaner rulers) wi 11 adopt a scorched earth policy if one-person-one-vote is demanded vigorously. Buthelezi is reported to be seriously consider ing joini ng the National Statutory CounGil which Botha has proposed as a cloak and smoke-screen for rallying the support of selected black •leaders.• The selected stooges of apart­ hei d would create the impression that the Afrikaners are expanding black participation through the National Statutory Council which has no political power. Many thoughtful and moderate Africans have already declared that they will not participate in Botha's NSC. For instance, Or. Sam Motsuenyane the President of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce, has stated that he will not participate in the Council proposed by Botha. It may be recalled here that the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce represents 15,000 black businessmen in South Africa. They sent a delegation recently to Lusaka , to hold cordial consultation and discussions with the ANC leadership in exile. Most black leaders had categorically rejected Botha's Council out of hand. But Buthelezi who vociferously opposed the 1984 constitution and its tricameral parliamentary arrangement is now will i ng to join the National Statutory Council on the condition that Nelson Handela is released from prison. What should be clear to Buthelezi and others is that it is futi le for them to join the NSC and "be party to an advisory body when blacks are not represented at the highest levels of government." Even if Nelson Handela is released, it fs highly unlikely that he would have anything to do with a council of this nature. (See Mission to South Africa: The Commonwealth Project. by Commonwea 1th Eminent Persons Group to Southern Afr ica. Penguin Books , 1986.)

89 Inside South Africa, there are many notable blacks who do see the reso 1uti on of the prot>l em of aoarthei d the same Buthelezi does. For example, the Chief Minister of gwane, Enos Mabuza, is famous for his anti-apartheid ions. He has gone to Lusaka to visit the ANC. Further­ , Enos Mabuza has declared openly "that there can be no tion in South Africa without the involvement and active icipation of the ANC." Mabuza is the president of the tico-cultural organization known as Inyandza National ment. This organization is in constant touch with the ANC Lusaka and actually visited it recently under the ership of Enos Mabuza and a communique was issued stating they were opposed to "separate development" as propounded he Botha regime, they opposed and rejected the apartheid itutions especially the . Saths Cooper, ident of the radical and militant Azania People's nization, and the Most Rev. Smangaliso Mkhatshwa of the hern African Catho 1f c Bi shoos Conference are addition a 1 ples. Both of and Buthelezi of ulu violently condemned Mabuza for visiting the ANC. His onse was that the ANC has mass support in South Africa. cannot be denied. However, there is Inkatha, a Zulu tico-cultural organization which has about one million ers most of whom support Buthelez1. P.W. Botha has stated he regards Inkatha as Buthe lezi ' s own version of the us Afrikaner Broederbond for the Zulu people. This is re example of the divide and rule at all levels of black ety in South Africa. Not all Zulus support Buthelezi. In addition to Inkatha, Buthelezi has promoted the tfon of an all Zulu trade union known as Uwusa as a erfofl to the all South African COSATU (Council of South an Trade Union). Is Buthelezi accentuating ethnic ationalfsm? Is he behind the acts of violence by Inkatha oweto and Natal? Why is it that despite the state of ency, Inkatha was allowed to hold a mammoth rally in the ani Stadium in where Buthelezi arrived by hel i­ r to declare in his speech that Botha's National tory Counci 1 could be regarded as the benchmark for "the victory for the black struggle for 1iberation. '' Was he ing out of conviction or to please the crowd of Inkatha rs and the Afrikaners who hail him as a moderate non­ nist black leader? This is perhaps the reason why Mr. Mokeba, the ANC representative in Luanda, said that lezi is on the side of the enemy and acts as his master's If Botha boasts that he is not prepared to do anything stroy the present character of South Africa, how can lezi convince the masses in South Africa and the people e world that the formation of the National Statutory

90 Council can be regarded as the beginning of the end of apart­ heid? The fractiona 1ization of South African society affects the whites too. The problems of class, ethnic origin and ideology are present in both the white and black sections of South Africa. There are divisions among the whites as well. The intensification of the struggle in recent months has brought out the cleavages among the whites, especially the white business community. Gavin Relly, the chairman of Anglo­ American has stated his preference for Buthelezi because Buthelezi "says exactly what we think, • and is the single black leader who goes along with their program. This, accord­ ing to Gavin Relly, should make people forget the •rough game" that Buthelezi plays in Natal. On the other hand , several employers are upset with the excessive repression because ft has enraged the workers and they are now striking and are restless and militant. The white Chamber of Mines which represents the six big mining companies have expressed their uneasiness and anxiety over the repressive measures of the Botha regime which they said would damage industrial relations and cut down their profits. Early in July 1986 , 2000 miners went on strike in four diamond mines owned by De Beers. In addition, 8000 workers adopted a go-slow tactic in Anglo­ American's Consolidated gold mine. Add to these the arrest and detention of over 1000 trade unionists who tried to hold a meeting in Tembfsa. The Chairman of De Beers was upset by the strikes in four of his mines. He dispatched a telegram to Mr. Louis le Grange, Minister for Law and Order, requesting that the Minister should order the police to release the leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers including Elijah Barayi its vice-president. De Beer's chairman argued in the telegram that negotiations were impossible under the conditions where over seventy major 1eaders of the Unions were f n detentf on. It has been reported that the mines have 1ost mfl1i ons of dollars as a result of both the unrest and the industrial action of the trade unionists, both strikes and go- slows. The gold mining sector is said to have lost 14.85 billion rands in the first half of 1986 since the repressive emergency began. Some crue1 and reactionary mining managers have resorted to brutality and police-trained vi~ilantes to break the strikes and go-slows. Corporal punishment and forced labour are said to have been used widely. Workers have retal1ated with industrial sabotage, their buying power and their militancy which is obviously on the increase.

Where does the ANC come f n and what of the Front 1 i ne States and other African states? Let us look briefly at the ANC and the other parties working for the liberation of South Africa. It is evident that the ANC is a very broad-based

91 vement of national 1 iberation. It is fighting, as its aders affirm, for the legitimate political, economic, social d human rights of the oppressed people of South Africa. ough is still in prison on , he the acknowledged leader of the ANC and the internationa l nd for his release has gathered momentum since 1985. ndela fs the father-figure of a free South Africa. He has broad-based appea 1 and conmands 1oya 1ties that transcend be, ideology and class. • conmented Pini Jason and Hath rak.pata recently. ("The Nemesis of Apartheid: Mandela 's rage is the Key,• in This Week. [Nigeria) (August 11, 1986, 22). Another c011111enta tor sa 1 d that Ne 1son Man de la "has orne a legendary figure almost , the symbol of African ependence, and his growing prestige as a sacrificial leader es some of the sting from the Botha government accusation c00'111unism" . (Lewis C.A. Rayapen, •south Africa: stitutional Change or Violent Revolution,• in International rnal on World Peace Vol.III. No.2 (Apr.-June, 1986). o.Sl. onmonwea t 1nent Persons Group on Southern Africa ited Nelson Mandela and interviewed him in prison on Robben and (1986). Since the imprisonment of Nelson Mandel a in 2, leadership has continued to emerge in black. South fca. Here we must exclude those blacks who have been dpicked by the Afrikaners to rule over the miserable lands or Bantustans. The assassination of Steve in tember 1977 came in the wake of the revolt of the youth in famous Soweto Revolt of June 1976. Biko's death in the ds of the officials of the South African government racted added attention to the evil nature of the apartheid tem in South Africa (See •soweto, Black Consciousness and ve Biko,• in Frantz Fanon, Soweto and American Black u ht.by Lou Turner and John Alan (Chicago, 1986) pp.lS-25. The ANC and the PAC were both banned after the Sharpe­ le revolt and massacre of blacks (1960) by government ops. The government evoked the Riotous Assemblies Act 56) as a justification for banning these parties. Earlier, Suppression of Conmunism Act (1950) led to the banning of South Africa C011111unist Party (SACP) . was sted, detained and killed in order to stop the Black ciousness Movement which he found ed and led. Though ed, these parties have operated from exile and bases ide South Africa (See Robert W. Peterson South Africa and theid. (New York, 1971) pp. 55-157. Steve Bi ko spoke for mi 11 ions of b1 ack.s when he defined ck Consciousness" and stated its objectives in the ggle . He stated: "By Black Consciousness I mean the cultural and political revival of an oppressed people . This must be related to the emancipation of the entire

92 continent of Africa since the Second World War. Africa has experienced the death of white invicibility ••• Being an historically, palitically, socially and economically disinherited and dis­ possessed group, they [Blacks] have the strongest foundation from which to operate. The philosophy of Black Consciousness, therefore, expresses group pride and the determination by the Blacks to rise and attain the envisaged self.• Biko pointed out that it was the irrevocable change in the consciousness of the youth of Soweto in 1976 that triggered off the revolt and the birth of the SSRC. Most of the young leaders inside and outside South Africa remember June 16, 1976 "as a day of unity and power and 9lorious struggle, • as Newsweek reported on June 23, 1986 (p.40) in •soweto: The Spirit of 1976, '' by Richard Manning. The ANC is constantly condemned and maligned by the Afrikaner leaders both of the National Party (NP) and the ultraright conservative and reactionary (Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) led by Eugene Ter re Blanche . The ANC is accused of being under the influence of communism and closely tied to the Soviet Union. The examples of Dr. Yusuf Oadoo, Joe Sl ovo who is the head of lbkhonto We Sizwe, the mi 1ita ry arm of the ANC, and Nelson Mandela are repeated ad nauseam to support the accusation. It appears to me that the aims and objectives of the ANC stated by Oliver Tambo and quoted earlier in this paper are not identical with those of the South African Corrmunfst Party (SAPC) stated in the , (No.81, p,32} . The government of South Africa has appo1nted itself, puny as it is, as the bulwark to protect the Western world from communism. This is balderdash. In Britain, in the USA, in France, in Italy, in Spain, etc. there exists a Communist Party. Which European or klerican nation is South Africa protecting from communism? Even a hardcore anti -communist like Ronald Reagan has visited China and is at present arranging to hold a meeting with Mikhael Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union. And the news has recently been announced that the conservative Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Britain, is to visit Moscow soon on an official visit. Afrikaner leaders have created a dilemma in South Africa because of the primitive way in which they perceive the world . They must adapt to the 20th century and prepare for the 21st century otherwise the predicted bloodbath and civi l war will occur in South Africa and will eliminate many innocent persons as well as many Afrikaner who have what I may call the dinosaur mentality, and a commitment to white supremacy . We have maintained all along that the South African problem is an African problem. The most recent impressive

93 nstration of this generalization as well as evidence to port it is the recently concluded 22nd Summit of the Heads State of the Organization of African Unity which met in 1s Ababa, Ethiopia. Commodore Ebitu Uldwe who led the erian delegation held talks with several of the leaders at sunnit in Addis Ababa. He called on African governments impose sanctions on Britain because of Margaret Thatcher's ransigence. It was reported that Nigeria's views were red by the entirety of those leaders who attended the Addis ba sunmi t. Furthermore. the President of Senega 1, who has n the chairman of the OAU s i nee the sunni t of 1985, used occasion of his last address to the heads of state to bast the Afrikaners and apartheid. He praised all nations t boycotted the Corrmonwea 1th Games in Edinburgh because of callous and uncompromising attitude of Prime Minister garet Thatcher against the imposition of economic sanctions inst South Africa. President Abdou Diouf of Senegal lared that all schools in Africa should carve the words, RTHEIO IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY, .. on every blackboard t at t e present pup s an generations to come will know tr enemies. (See David Marsh, : The Struggle for dom in South Africa. New York, 1986.) Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, head of state of Ethiopia the host of the OAU Summit enumerated Ethiopia's contri- ions to the people's struggle in South Africa, especially aid Ethiopia has given to the ANC and to SWAPO in their ration struggle against Pretoria. As expected, Colonel istu Haile Mariam condemned the USA, Britain, and certain r Western nations for their failure .to act against theid. He emphasized the point that America's policy rds South Africa was anti-African. He asked African es to make London and Washington D.C. the targets of more sure after the successfu 1 boycotti'ng of the Edinburgh s and the huge loss of millions of dollars suffered by the ish Organizers of the Commonwealth Games. The new chairman of the OAU, President Denis Sassou­ sso of the People's Republic of the Congo, has the task of inuing the offensive of all the African states against oria and the Western bloc. He is supposed to increase aid the OAU liberation Committee, the ANC, SWAPO, and the tline states who suffer constant attacks and air raids by Botha regime. President Abdou 01ouf of Senegal called on African states to respect their C()llll11itment to the UN­ sored internati on a 1 conference on the cri ti ca 1 economic ation in Africa agreed to in May 1986. He declared: "The rnational c011111unity 1s c011111i .tted to assisting Africa, but ca should show first, a loyal and determined applicati on he approved methods." The UN Secretary-Genera 1, Janvier z de Cuellar, who was at the summit, gave an address in t h he condemned Pretoria's destabil i zation policies and

94 actions against neighbouring states. He said that this aspect of Pretoria's policy was •most disturbing" (This Week (Nigeria) (August 11, 1986) •Action Against Apartheid"( p, 23). The solidarity shown in Addis Ababa is very encouraging and reassured the Frontline states of the support of all the other African states. Even Cote d'lvoire has recently denied landing rights to South African airplanes (David lamb, The Africans ( 1985) pp, 213; 317-324). - Apartheid has to be fought inside South Africa if it is to be destroyed. This is not an easy task. The experience of the liberation wars in Zimbabwe, Mozambique , Angola, Vietnam, Algeria, Guinea-Bissau, etc. amply shows that it is not an easy job to defeat and change an oppressive and scandalous political regime. This is where the organizations inside South Africa and their leaders and supoorters come fn. Some commentators have expressed the opinion that the opportunities for united 1iberation activities created by Soweto in 1976 have been lost. I do not share fn this pessimistic point of views. I agree with Steve Biko that the wfll to freedom sparked by Soweto and the anti-apartheid consciousness brought about by Soweto are to be seen today in the parties and organizations inside Black South Africa in the urban as well as in the rural areas. LHe Sharpville, Soweto (1976) was another point of departure in the struggle for freedom in South Africa. The students who led SSRC till it was banned in 1977 are now young men and many of them are still playing significant roles in various capacities in the UOF, AZAPO, ANC, PAC, etc. For instance, Thabo Hdabene who is now twenty­ nine years old was only 19 when he led the S~weto revolt in 1976. At present, he is a leader in the Azanian People's Organization (AZAPO) to which he was attracted while he was in Modderbee prison. He recollects that in prison they discussed "Black Consciousness. • Murphy Morobe, now 30 years old, is very active in UOF . He has grown since the days when he led the SSRC and after his incarceration fn Robben Island which black activists in South Africa have renamed "Mandela University,• according to Richard Manning. The leader of the SSRC, Tsietsi Mashinini, escaped into exile but Seth Mazibuko, now 28 years old, after graduating from •Mandela University,u where he was imprisoned after being tortured in the infamous Afrikaner torture chamber called •die waar Ieamer• (the truth room), is at present engaged in organizing for a church group, another vital and integral part of the struggle. The Soweto boys are now men. They have come to the realization as Thabo Ndabene said that the reality of the South African situation is that it is not easy to overthrow a government. Seth Mazibuko has put on record what a lasting positive impressiQn it has been for them to meet and to learn from Nelson Mandela in prison about whom they had been taught lies as young school boys. The lesson from this short sketch is that the situation in South Africa is not static but dynamic. All the Afrikaner

95 . about c01m1uni sm 1s but part of thef r search for and sympathizers. It is spurious. In this respect I with the observation of Lewis C.A. Rayapen. For many Black Africans, however, racism is a worse vil than communism, for you can change your ideas, hou 1d you choose to do so, but you cannot change he color of your skin. Any group working to verthrow the hated apartheid system is an a 11 y. o, the communist threat is there, although it does ot present itself as a serious threat to the Black outh Africans.• n Soweto, the conflict between Blacks is caused by id, indirectly at least. The generational gap between omrades• and the •Fathers" and the violence that has ut of it is part of the dynamics of social change. The etween the UOF and Inkatha, the ri va 1ry between the set up by Buthelezi and COSATU is to me a sign of the pains of the new militant trade unions. The violence Buthelezi's Amabutho against UOF supporters in Natal be regretted. It runs counter to the non-raci a 1ism d by Nelson Mandela. It will accentuate ethnic is~ and divisive tendencies between Zulu, Swazi, Sotho, nd Asians. Ethn ic chauvinism should take a back seat 1 Black South Africans should get on with the business ing rid of apartheid. the Afrikaner and white side of the South African n, there are also both class and ideological conflicts as party cleavages. The National Party (NP) which is ernment of the day has its hands full with the ultra­ nd very reacti onary Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) has created Nazi type brown-shirted military Storm . * The atavistic AWB is conmitted to the ideology of upremacy, and is opposed to the cautious and minor refonns of the Bo tha regime. There is also the re- ry and far right Reconstituted National Party (HNP) spouses pure apartheid and opposed the efforts of the egime to repeal the Irrmorality Act of 1927 and the tion of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 (both now d). The AWB and the HNP are opposed to the efforts of ha regime to desegregate the Trade Unions and the ities which were split by the Division of Trade Unions 57) and the Division of Universities Act (1959). Both want to tighten the Terrorism Act (1967) and the Act which prohibits the reporting of prison conditions h Africa--both white prisons and black prisons. One tion here the quandry in which the Progressive Federal PFP ) finds itself. One of the best-known members of , , stated last June that it was •a pretty e situation for people like myself." Though she has v. Dr. Sipo E. Hzimel a Apartheid: South African Nazii sm ~983) 96 been bravely fighting apartheid for many years, the PFP is at present unacceptable to Blacks and it is considered irrelevant by many whites, especially with its call for a afederal " system in South Africa. Some of its members have resigned because they feel rejected by the Blacks and the Whites . The former 1eader of the PFP in oarl iament, Frederick van Zyl Slabbert, resigned from parliament in February 1986 saying that parliament had become irrelevant in the face of mounting death to 11 in the streets. imprisonment of thousands and a continuing state of emergency. I have taken the time to give this br ief sketch to demonstrate to the readers that the Afrikaner and English elements are by no means a monolithic front. They have their ethnic, ideological and class rivalries just like the Blacks and Asians. There have been many cases when the AWB under the leadership of Eugene Terre Blanche sent their thugs and vigilantes and Storm Falcons to disrupt me etings and public rallies of the National Party. For instance, in May 1986, AWB militants and thugs broke up a rally organized by the HP at which the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Roel of Botha was invited to speak to party supporters. Eugene Terre Blanche is using neo-Nazi tactics in his attacks on the National Party and its leadership. The PFP is runni ng scared too. In conclusion , the South African problem is a complex problem . It is basically a problem for the Africans in South Africa. It i s a problem for African states and their leaders and they have acknowledged this fact. They are a 1so doing something about it, given the precarious economic situation fn most of the African states. But as the Holy ~fble says, man does not live by bread alone. Africans and their leaders have as ked the Western b1 oc and the Eastern b1 oc as we 11 as the Asians to join them not only in the moral rhetoric of the condemnation of apartheid but also in substantive action calculated to demonstrate to the Afrikaners and all white South Africans that apartheid fs a crime against humanity. This i s why South Africa was constrained to withdraw from the Commonwealth in 1961. South Africa has been isolated in terms of wor1 d sports, be it in the Afri can continent, the Col1111on ­ wealth Games and the Olympic Games. There is the need for the struggle against apartheid to be intensified. Both Presi dent Kenneth D. Kaunda of Zambia and Pri me Minister Robert G. Mugabe of Zimbabwe have spoken of the need for unity of purpose in the struggle against apart­ heid . It behooves the Blacks inside South Africa as well as those Black South Africans in exile to work together and cooperate more fully in the diplomatic offensive against apartheid. They should also unify their tactics in the offensive inside South Africa. (See Joseph Hanlon, Apartheid's Second Front: South Africa's War Against Its Ne ighbors . London, 1986 .)

97 Civil war and the predicted blood-bath may come to pass f the process of the struggle for the elimination of apart­ id. On the other hand. change can be forced to occur by the plication of superior moral power as Bishop ms to believe. Non racialism appears to me to be the stone that wi 11 hold the South African arch together as lson Mandela has repeatedly stated. One can understand or pathize with the extreme position of AZAPO of driving the ites into the Atlantic Ocean, but one cannot fail to see the practicability of this policy. The question of socialism or unism in a liberated and apartheid free South Africa is a t point in the present situation of things. What is the st pressing issue is the elimination and destruction of the arthefd system. The one-oerson-one-vote orinciole will cide the form of government that wi 11 emerge and thr ive or rvive under such a new system. When I hear the singing of Nkosi Sikelela i 'Afrika (God ess Africa). the acknowledged anthem of Slack African tionalism and Black nationa 1 ists, the emotions and senti­ nts it evokes in me are powerfu 1 , s ti rri ng , hooefu 1 and emendous ly encouraging. Menta 1 echoes of this song conjure the sweet voices of children and the imploring voices of thers and women. Women have played a very important role in e struggle against apartheid in South Africa. They have en active in the urban areas and in the townshios and uatter towns. They have been active in the homelands and in e most rural of rural South Africa. They will still ntfnue to be a very significant factor in the continuing ruggle against apartheid. Their courage. their patience, eir leadership will all be assets in the struggle for eedom. There is an abundance of books and pamphlets on the iumphs. tears, activities, hopes and determination of South A rica's black women. Finally, external and international pressure should be gendered and utilized in the struggle. The United Nations nter Against Apartheid should play a more substantial role. e Western bloc of nations should show . a more positive and cisive approach to apartheid. The Eastern bloc nations ould increase their aid to the freedom fighters in South A rica . The magnitude of the problem of apartheid makes it cessary for the international conmunity to get involved in e process of its elimination. The Heads of State of the ganization of African Unity made this clear in Addis Ababa cently. In the solemn words of Mafika Pascal Gwala . a eto poet of the Black Consciousness movement: There is a hope fanned by endless zeal decisive against the spectre of Sharpeville hardened by the tears of Soweto.

98 There is a thunder path that stretches into jungle heights where wolves whine and howl where cammouflage is nature's flak guns where the dream of Pierre Mulele has revived. There is cause to stand and utter words hurtful to those who skulk in the wilderness of lies and bias. For there to be For there to be facts 'other than' is our human asset.

Staffrider Vol. I, No.3 (July/August, 1978) p.31, reprinted in Literature and Society in South Africa (eds.) Landeg White and Tim Couzens (Longman Group, New York, 1984) p. 207.

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